FM2T, andinista Among FTOPS XVII Weekend Winners

Six tournaments played out over the weekend as part of the 17th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). Players from around the world virtually gathered on Full Tilt Poker for Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold’em events, with three tournaments apiece playing out on Saturday and Sunday. J.D. “jdpc27” Wheeler got the festivities started off on the right foot on Saturday, taking down a $535 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max event (#8) for $85,000. Wheeler bested Browndog19 heads-up in a final table that also included JJ COMMERCE (third for $40,100), Tdanger00 (fourth for $30,476), Arsonist88 (fifth for $21,654), and quantum leaper1 (sixth for $13,835).

Event #9, also held on Saturday, was a $109 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys tournament that drew a crowd of 1,827. It remains the only FTOPS XVII event held so far that failed to reach its guarantee, as a prize pool of $600,000 was divvied among 189 players. SkillVille outlasted V3kk3d heads-up to cash for $110,000 after a two-way deal. As a result, V3kk3d banked a not-so-paltry $94,000 for second. Poker veteran Jeremy “endlessj83” Menard landed in third on the leaderboard and collected just over $60,000.

Event #10 was the second of six Rush Poker tournaments to grace the FTOPS XVII docket. The tournament, a $216 No Limit Hold’em Rush Turbo, blew away its $350,000 guarantee, as a field of 1,971 players turned out. Aguskb found the winner’s circle and took home $81,000, while HNE SNE SPEAKNE finished as the runner-up, boosting his bankroll by $53,000. Lock Poker pro Matt “All In At 420” Stout grabbed third place for nearly $40,000, proving that he’s still among the top players in the industry.

Event #11 saw 8,861 entrants descend on Full Tilt Poker for a $129 No Limit Hold’em Knockout. The bounty tournament beat its $800,000 guarantee by about 10% and FM2T claimed one of the largest payouts of FTOPS XVII by walking away with a $141,000 top prize. Second place and nearly $100,000 went to Full Tilt Poker member UWOkid87, while iuliani claimed third place and its corresponding $69,000 payday. A total of 1,080 players finished in the money.

Sunday also saw the completion of Event #12, a $535 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Shootout. A field of 1,024 turned out and, in the finale, Mark “xqsays” Radoja claimed his second FTOPS title by beating Smokinokun. Radoja’s victory was worth $89,000, while Smokinokun walked away $53,000 richer for his wear.

The final FTOPS XVII event to play out over the weekend was a $322 No Limit Hold’em tournament that boasted a $1.25 million guaranteed purse. The final three chopped, with andinista banking $209,000 for first and 93Tillnfinity grabbing $187,000 for second. Third place went to Jake “maseandlou” Neff (no relation to Peter “#1PEN” Neff), who took home $153,000.

Every member of the final table of Event #13 walked away with a wheelbarrow full of cash, including shipthemula (fourth for $92,743), decorated poker pro Chris Ferguson (fifth for $68,855), Brent “Bhanks11” Hanks (sixth for $47,777), suckoutgenius (seventh for $32,320), Paul Merson (eighth for $22,483), and hahahaha-yehaaw (ninth for $15,457).

FTOPS XVII continues this week and will wrap up on Sunday with a $640 buy-in, $3 million guaranteed Main Event. A Full Tilt pro will host the feature tournament, although their identity has not yet been announced. FTOPS is run quarterly on Full Tilt Poker, so expect to see one more cycle before the 2010 calendar year comes to a close.

Visit Full Tilt Poker for more details. Remember that USA players are welcome with open arms.